Resident Evil 6 Review

Resident Evil aka Biohazard is a name known to us all, who have been involved in the gaming scene even for a short period of time. The genre Survival Horror was born along with the first Resident Evil game. The game had very bad actors and voice cast but from gameplay perspective it was something new that gamers did not experience before and it was excellent. The Resident Evil 2 game improved upon the original and have been considered as the best Resident Evil game by thousands of fan. Capcom removed the live-action cut scenes and introduced CG cut scenes instead and gameplay and environment was further improved from the original. Afterwards many sequels were released. Some very good (RE4), some not very good (RE Survivor) and some very different (RE5). Now let's talk about the new installment of the series, Resident Evil 6.

Single Player Campaign

First, I am going to talk about the single player campaign of the new game. Most people who bought Resident Evil 6, is because of the single player campaign. Capcom made sure that the gamerís get a robust single player campaign, but they couldnít do it quite right. Instead of a long single player campaign like the previous installments of the series, Resident Evil 6 actually has 4 single player campaign. Players get to choose between 2 characters for each campaign and there are a total of 7 playable characters in the game, given in the last campaign you get only one character. The 4 campaigns are interconnected with each other. So, what you see in one campaign, you might see in another campaign but from a different perspective. While there is nothing wrong with this idea in pen and paper, the problem is with execution. Gamers are very much familiar with playing multiple characters in single player campaign; it has been executed very nicely in a number of Call of Duty games, Where you play as one character in one chapter then play with another in another chapter and it seems fluid and doesnít feel odd. The problem with Resident Evil 6ís single player campaign is that it seems Capcom tried to follow the Call of Dutyís single player campaign idea, but failed to execute it as a single campaign and decided to break it up into 4 different campaign.

Chrisís Campaign

The game should have started with this campaign, as people who would buy Resident Evil 6 have probably already played RE5 and would be very much familiar with Chrisís gameplay style which hasnít changed much from RE5. Previously gamers complained about not being able to shoot while they move, which has been addressed in Resident Evil 6 and it enhances the gameplay much more. Gameplay wise Chrisís campaign a lot more polished and the intro of the campaign is also quite good. This part of the game will be liked by players who enjoyed RE5. All chapterís in this campaign is relevant and enjoyable as an action adventure gameís campaign.

Jakeís Campaign

Jakeís Campaign starts off with lots of distractions, the player might get overwhelmed by all thatís happening around him/her and might see the game over scene a couple of times. There are a few chapters in Jakeís campaign which seems unnecessary or long and this could been fixed very easily if director in charge of the project actually cut off some levels and merged this campaign with Chrisís campaign. Overall this is an average campaign and players would enjoy it to some level as an action adventure gameís campaign.

Leonís Campaign

This is the only campaign in the game that tries to be a Survivor Horror campaign and ends up being a half assed survivor horror campaign with a sprinkle of action adventure. The chapters in this campaign are all necessary and fine but the problem is with the environment. The game always try to scare you but fails most of the times. This campaign is slow and long and should be played later after you get used to the game mechanics by playing the other two campaign, but there is also a possibility that the players might not enjoy this campaign later on in the game as this campaign is slower in pace than the other two.

Adaís Campaign

This is the final and fourth campaign of the game and definitely should have been merged with Leonís Campaign and again the director fails to cut unnecessary chapter from this campaign. In this campaign the gameplay changes and lean towards a stealth action game.

Co-Op

Playing this game in Co-Op is a much better option than playing alone as there is always an AI partner with you if you choose to play alone. The AI partner is not a dumbo like RE 5ís AI and most of the times the AI is helpful to the player. But if you can play with a friend, definitely finish the single player campaign in co-op, because when you play alone the AI character never dies, so there is no need to rescue or heal him/her and this makes the gameplay experience much more plain and boring. There is also 4 player co-op possible in certain areas of the game.

Agent-Hunt

Agent hunt is a cool idea where you invade other peopleís campaign as enemies. Those of us who have played Left 4 Dead is familiar which this style. This is a good little addition and enhances gameplay experience if the player enable agent-hunt.

Mercenaries

Mercenaries mode return in Resident Evil 6 and just as enjoyable as it was before. There is no disappointment in this mode for those who have enjoyed mercenaries mode in the previous Resident Evil games.

A few thoughts on QTE

Quick time events are all over the place in Resident Evil 6. Some are relevant and a lot of them are unnecessary (Ninja Blade anyone?). What was meant to enhance gameplay experience actually degraded the experience to a very low level.

Final Thoughts on Single Player Campaign

The Resident Evil 6ís single player mode is actually 4 small campaigns interconnected with each other. The developers went with the Call of Dutyís campaign style and failed to make a long coherent single player experience and the result is what we see now. It took me 25 hrs and 47 min to complete all campaigns and if levels were cut and polished and released maybe 6 months later this game could have been a 20hrs of great long campaign. Overall it seems incomplete and quickly shipped without final touch.

No more Survival Horror

Resident Evil 6 is not a survival horror game. It is a quick time event filled action adventure game that tries to mimic Hollywood movies and Call of Duty action cut scenes or to some extent Resident Evil movies(ugh..).
Players who enjoy action adventure games will enjoy Resident Evil 6 to some extent and would have enjoyed more if it wasnít for those frequent QTE frenzy. For survival horror game players, this is not a pleasant experience. For those who enjoy both type of games the experience will be mixed, as it has been for me.